Religion Blog

The AFL-CIO in central Ohio has partnered with a grass-roots advocacy group to ask the Roman
Catholic bishop of Columbus to participate in a panel discussion on the rights of gay people in
workplaces, specifically faith-based workplaces.

The union organization’s Pride @ Work Ohio constituency group and #halestormOhio made the
request to Bishop Frederick Campbell yesterday in response to the Columbus diocese’s refusal to
reinstate Carla Hale, a lesbian teacher who was fired from Bishop Watterson High School in
Clintonville.

Amanda Finelli of #halestormOhio and Glen Skeen, president of Pride @ Work Ohio, dropped off the
request via letter at diocesan offices Downtown.

“This is a human-rights issue,” Finelli said. “When you see an organization or a corporation,
faith-based or otherwise, denying rights — human rights — to an individual and denying them the
right to work, denying them the right to live honestly and truthfully, we are seeing somebody being
stripped of their human dignity.”

The groups also plan to invite city and state officials and community members to the discussion,
planned for June 26. Skeen said it hadn’t been decided whether the forum would be open to the
public.

George Jones, a diocesan spokesman, said he was unaware of the letter and had no immediate
comment on whether the bishop would consider attending.

Hale was fired as a physical-education teacher in March after she listed the name of her partner
in a newspaper obituary for her mother. The diocese has said she was not fired because she is gay
but because she publicly disclosed an extramarital relationship that violates the tenets of the
Catholic Church and her employment contract.

On Tuesday, Hale’s attorney announced that the diocesan superintendent had denied her
reinstatement request, part of a grievance process through the Central Ohio Association of Catholic
Educators union. The association, which is not affiliated with the AFL-CIO, has declined to support
Hale’s grievance effort.

Skeen, who is a convert to Catholicism and also gay, said the AFL-CIO is voicing its support for
Hale because the firing is “a workplace issue.”

“That’s why the AFL-CIO is involved,” he said. “We do really feel that everybody needs a right
to have a job … and not be discriminated against based on our sexual orientation or sexual
identity.”

Hale, who taught at Watterson for about 19 years, has filed a complaint with the Columbus
Community Relations Commission under a city ordinance that makes it a misdemeanor for employers to
discriminate based on sexual orientation. She also has the option of continuing her grievance to
binding arbitration or filing a lawsuit, her attorney has said.